If it is true that in the history of Indian Buddhism the main traditions and activities ofthe Hinayana centred around the sangha then it were, in the present writer's opinion, scriptures and their ideas which the Mahayana took as its main point of reference. Thus research into the intellectual sources, formal developments, textual variants, transmission routes and questions of authenticity of these texts as well as their value for Buddhist studies becomes not only a vital task Buddhist philology has to face but also an importanttopic for the study of Indian Buddhist history. In order to provide some materials for this research the present paper offers a morecomprehensive collection and systematic arrangement of the Lotus Sutra and its commentaries as found among the Dunhuang documents. At the end, the authorformulates a number of personal opinions about both the period in which the Lotus Sutra had its greatest impact in China and the ways it was spread then.